SCOLOPACIDA. 891 
The nest is made of grass and other vegetables, 
and is placed amongst the coarse herbage of swamps 
and low meadows. 
The food of the present species consists mostly of 
worms, grubs and aquatic insects; small shell-fish, 
both salt and fresh-water, are often found in the 
stomach: gravel and small stones are generally 
present, probably being swallowed for the purpose 
of assisting digestion.* 
The changes of plumage of this bird at various 
ages and times of the year have led to many mis- 
takes of identity, and to the bird being called by 
different names by different authors: in its summer 
plumage it appears to be the “Red Godwit” of 
Montagu and Bewick, and the young bird appears to 
be the “Jadreka Snipe” of those authors: in this 
plumage its appearance is as follows :—“ The beak 
is black for half its length from the point, the basal 
half pale orange; irides hazel; from the gape to the 
eye a dark streak, produced by small black spots on 
feathers of a reddish brown; over this and around 
the eye a ring of pale brown; the top of the head 
and the ear-coverts reddish brown, streaked with 
black; the neck all round, before and behind, a red- 
dish fawn-colour; the feathers of the back in spring 
become dark brown, almost black, at the base and 
* *Zoologist’ for 1864, p. 9289; for 1865, p. 9809; 
for 1867 (Second Series), p. 539. 
